“…more of a single scholar’s East Asian Journal (capital 'J') than it is a weblog” – Melville House

Consecrated: New French Embassy in Beijing

The next time you encounter someone caterwauling about the rapid expansion of Chinese cultural institutions abroad, Chinese companies taking over contracts in Algeria, or complaining about the size of the American embassy in Baghdad, I suggest you counter with the following statement: “Sure, but have you seen the French Embassy in Beijing? Don’t you think the Chinese are terrified by the cultural footprint that it represents, this, this kernel of expansionism, this architectural gauntlet thrown down with such hubris and weighty largesse?” Or perhaps we could all settle down and admire the architecture and the architect: